Kelly, Kira

Director of Photography Kira Kelly’s ability to shoot iconic images earned her a spot on American Cinematographer’s 2017 Rising Stars of Cinematography, Variety's Top Cinematographers to Watch list, and an Emmy nomination.
Kira received a 2017 Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program for her work on Netflix’s critically acclaimed documentary 13th, which was directed and produced by Ava DuVernay. The film, which investigates the relationship between the criminalization of African Americans and the US prison boom, earned a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 2017 Academy Awards and won the 2017 BAFTA for Documentary Feature and the 2016 Peabody Award for Documentary.
She recently collaborated with director Ava DuVernay for a second time, lensing the second season of the critically-acclaimed series, Queen Sugar, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey.
Kira shot four seasons of the five-time Emmy nominated Hulu show, East Los High. Her work on that show was featured in ICG Magazine.
Kira began her career as a gaffer in NYC before making the leap to cinematographer on dozens of music videos. Her first feature began a long-lasting collaboration with director Tom Gustafson. The musical Were The World Mine (winner of 15 jury and 11 audience awards) gave us our first look at her narrative work, summed up perfectly in the Hollywood Reporter: “The lush cinematography belies the modest budget.” Kira also shot Gustafson’s second feature, Mariachi Gringo, in Guadalajara, Mexico. She wrapped production on her most recent narrative feature Skin in The Game, set for release in 2018.
In addition to her work on 13th, Kira’s passion for documentary work has taken her around the world to countries as far flung as Rwanda and Cuba, to global events like the World Cup Final in South Africa, and to meet childhood hero Olympic Champion Greg Louganis while shooting the documentary Back on Board: Greg Louganis, recently nominated for an Emmy for Best Sports Documentary.
Kira’s commercial clients include Nike, Chase, Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Comcast, Cover Girl, Motorola and more.
Kira currently lives in Los Angeles and is represented by DDA.